Christie Hefnerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/christie-hefner
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 08:44:18 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 08:44:18 -0500The latest news on Christie Hefner from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/hefner-husband-probed-for-insider-trades-2012-12The Sad Story Of What Happened When Hugh Hefner's Son-In-Law Was Investigated For 'Suspicious' Trading Of Playboy Shareshttp://www.businessinsider.com/hefner-husband-probed-for-insider-trades-2012-12
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:30:40 -0500Linette Lopez
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/50c5effbeab8ead83c00000f-399/hugh-and-christie-hefner.jpg" border="0" alt="Hugh and Christie Hefner" /></p><p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/hefner-husband-takes-insider-trading-into-playboy-bedroom.html">Bloomberg's Greg Farrell</a> has a long feature out about what happens to a couple when one spouse trades on inside information they got form the other.</p>
<p>The stand-out in all of the vignettes is the case of <strong>Christie Hefner</strong>, the daughter of media legend <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/playboy">Playboy</a> founder <strong>Hugh Hefner</strong> and the former CEO of Playboy Enterprises.</p>
<p>In 2010, Hefner's husband of 15 years, a former Illinois state senator named William Marovitz, confessed that he was being investigated for insider trading. According to federal investigators, Marovitz had illegally bought Playboy stock.</p>
<p>Like a lot of couples, Hefner and Marovitz talked about business when they were dating. Playboy even paid Marovitz for helping to broker a casino deal in 1993.</p>
<p>When it came to buying Playboy shares, though, Hefner was always very clear to her partner that it was a definite 'no'. She even had a lawyer draft a brief for her husband about the consequences of buying Playboy stock in 1998. Howard Shapiro, the attorney, told Marovitz to call him with any questions. According to the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/sec">SEC</a>, Marovitz never did.</p>
<p>Through their entire marriage, the couple kept separate brokerage accounts. That how, in April of 2004, it's quite possible that Hefner had no idea that her husband reportedly bought 5,000 shares of Playboy stock ahead of the announcement that the company would issue new stock to help pay down debt. The share price jumped 8% after the announcement and Marovitz made over $2,000.</p>
<p>After that, Marovitz kept going. His trades helped him gain or avoid losses of $100,952, according to the SEC.</p>
<p>Six years later, though, he and his wife were testifying before SEC investigators.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/hefner-husband-takes-insider-trading-into-playboy-bedroom.html">From Bloomberg:</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">On Nov. 8, 2010, Marovitz and Streicker appeared at the SEC&rsquo;s Chicago office to provide investigative testimony. <strong>Over the course of 90 minutes, Marovitz declined to answer any questions about his trading activity, invoking his Fifth Amendment right 179 times,</strong> even to basic questions about whether he knew anyone associated with Playboy Enterprises.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Regarding his conversations with his wife, Marovitz invoked a &ldquo;marital communication privilege,&rdquo; which can bar testimony by one spouse against another.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Three weeks later, Hefner and her attorney visited the SEC office for her testimony. In contrast to her husband&rsquo;s appearance, Hefner spent the better part of four hours describing her actions around the five dates on which the SEC suspected her husband had been trading on insider information. She said she would generally abide by the same marital communication privilege that Marovitz had invoked.</p>
<p>Hefner told investigators that she had every reason to trust her husband, which one can only imagine leads to intense feelings of betrayal. Marovitz never admitted any wrongdoing, but he did pay a $168,352 fine.</p>
<p>According to <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bloomberg">Bloomberg</a> Hefner and Marovitz have separated.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hefner-husband-probed-for-insider-trades-2012-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/playboys-on-the-block-hmmmm-silicone-alley-insider-anyone-2009-5 Playboy's On The Block. Hmmmm. Silicone Alley Insider, Anyone? (PLA)http://www.businessinsider.com/playboys-on-the-block-hmmmm-silicone-alley-insider-anyone-2009-5
Fri, 22 May 2009 07:33:00 -0400Dan Colarusso
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=4a16c4e314b9b93d002ba30b&amp;maxX=262&amp;maxY=196" border="0" width="262" height="196" /></p><p>Long suffering Playboy shareholders may get an escape as Hugh Hefner's empire looks to be officially on the block.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/05222009/business/playboy_in_market_for_a_sugar_daddy_with_170437.htm?&amp;page=1">According to the New York Post</a>, the company is now being shopped for $300 million, a hefty premium to its $100 million market cap, and a huge obstacle to attracting buyers. The reason for the big price tag is Hef's need to maintain his lifestyle, the paper said.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Everyone says he'll never let go, that he'll take it with him to the grave," said one source.</p>
<p>Hef still controls about 70 percent of the voting stock, and other two largest shareholders were Wells Capital and Fidelity, according to the most recent filings.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/playboys-on-the-block-hmmmm-silicone-alley-insider-anyone-2009-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/playboy-someone-please-buy-us-2009-2Playboy: Someone Please Buy Us! (PLA)http://www.businessinsider.com/playboy-someone-please-buy-us-2009-2
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:32:00 -0500Eric Krangel
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=499d77d84b5437da001071ee&amp;maxX=275&amp;maxY=206" border="0" width="275" height="206" /></p><p></p>
<p>Playboy (PLA) interim chairman John Kern wants to know: Won't somebody please buy the company?</p>
<p>Yesterday, John said "we're open to discussions" when asked during an <a href="http://www.foliomag.com/2009/playboy-reports-145-7m-fourth-quarter-loss">earnings call</a> if Playboy might be sold, essentially telling any and all he wants a deal.</p>
<p>Times have been rough for media companies, and Playboy in particular: PLA stock is down 81% over the past year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/12/christie-hefner-to-step-down-from-playboy-inspired-by-obamas-election-to-do-public-service">Christie Hefner bailed</a> (ostensibly inspired by Barack Obama to do national service), and the company is shuttering both <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/10/playboy-starts-to-realize-there-s-no-future-in-charging-money-to-se-naked-girls-pla-">lines of business</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/free-online-porn-take-its-toll-playboy-consolidates-web-and-print-offices-pla">offices</a>.</p>
<p>Not too surprising: Playboy was once one of the few ways men could see pictures of naked girls without seeming like a sleazebag.</p>
<p>But in the age of the Internet, pictures are free and easy to get a hold of. So that leaves... the Playboy brand, some Playboy perfumes, and a Playboy-themed club in Vegas with another coming in Macau?</p>
<p>Playboy's market cap is $52.7 million. Any takers? Anyone?</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/playboy-someone-please-buy-us-2009-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/12/christie-hefner-to-step-down-from-playboy-inspired-by-obamas-election-to-do-public-serviceChristie Hefner To Step Down From Playboy, Inspired By Obama's Election To Do Public Servicehttp://www.businessinsider.com/2008/12/christie-hefner-to-step-down-from-playboy-inspired-by-obamas-election-to-do-public-service
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:23:00 -0500Caroline Waxler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=493d416a14b9b98900438786&amp;maxX=240&amp;maxY=164" border="0" alt="ChristieHefner.jpg" title="ChristieHefner.jpg" width="240" height="164" /></p><p>Is "inspired by <strong>Barack Obama</strong>'s election to become in involved in public service" the new "taking time to pursue personal interests"?</p>
<p>Either way, <strong>Christie Hefner</strong>'s resignation from Playboy is long overdue. She's run the company for twenty years and it seems like every year there's another story about how Playboy is going to make a comeback. Please, this is the most well known porn company in the world. The company should be doing gangbusters not dying a slow death.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&amp;sid=aX0zlaJL1hJg&amp;refer=home">Bloomberg</a>: Hefner, 56, will remain on the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=PLA%3AUS">board</a> until her replacement is found, the Chicago-based company said today in a statement. <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Jerome+Kern&amp;site=wnews&amp;client=wnews&amp;proxystylesheet=wnews&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;filter=p&amp;getfields=wnnis&amp;sort=date:D:S:d1">Jerome Kern</a>, who joined Playboy&rsquo;s board of directors in 2002, will serve as interim non-executive chairman.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">...The recession and a decline in ad spending led the company to a $5.2 million loss in the third quarter. Ad <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=PLA%3AUS">revenue</a> in the magazine unit fell 14 percent to $5.5 million.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">In an appearance on CNBC today, Hefner said she &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t be able to step down if the company weren&rsquo;t in such strong shape.&rdquo; The election of <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obama&amp;site=wnews&amp;client=wnews&amp;proxystylesheet=wnews&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;filter=p&amp;getfields=wnnis&amp;sort=date:D:S:d1">Barack Obama</a> also inspired her to become involved in public service...</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">...Playboy, founded by <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Hugh+Hefner&amp;site=wnews&amp;client=wnews&amp;proxystylesheet=wnews&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;filter=p&amp;getfields=wnnis&amp;sort=date:D:S:d1">Hugh Hefner</a> in 1953, rose 19 cents to $1.94 at 10:19 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=PLA%3AUS">trading</a>. The shares had plunged 81 percent this year before today.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/12/christie-hefner-to-step-down-from-playboy-inspired-by-obamas-election-to-do-public-service#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>